Art and Documentary Photography - Loading Baez18.JPG
1 of 13 © 2024 Gabriella N. Baez
Art and Documentary Photography - Loading Baez29.JPG
2 of 13 © 2024 Gabriella N. Baez
Art and Documentary Photography - Loading NAIROBI_9.jpg
3 of 13 © 2024 Gabriella N. Baez
Art and Documentary Photography - Loading GALA_12.jpg
4 of 13 © 2024 Gabriella N. Baez
Art and Documentary Photography - Loading KARO_20.jpg
5 of 13 © 2024 Gabriella N. Baez
Art and Documentary Photography - Loading BLUR.jpg
6 of 13 © 2024 Gabriella N. Baez
Art and Documentary Photography - Loading Baez25.JPG
7 of 13 © 2024 Gabriella N. Baez
Art and Documentary Photography - Loading ENTREPUTXS_070720205.jpg
8 of 13 © 2024 Gabriella N. Baez

Island Putas

Art and Documentary Photography - Loading Baez30.JPG
9 of 13 © 2024 Gabriella N. Baez
Art and Documentary Photography - Loading GALA_6.jpg
10 of 13 © 2024 Gabriella N. Baez
Art and Documentary Photography - Loading KARO_30.jpg
11 of 13 © 2024 Gabriella N. Baez
Art and Documentary Photography - Loading TOKIO_1.jpg
12 of 13 © 2024 Gabriella N. Baez
Art and Documentary Photography - Loading sexwork06242020_1.jpg
13 of 13 © 2024 Gabriella N. Baez
Public Story
Island Putxs
Copyright Gabriella N. Baez 2024
Updated Aug 2022
Topics Media
Puerto Rico’s Sex Workers Are Struggling to SurviveThe challenge of making ends meet was difficult before Covid-19. Now it’s even worse.

Project supported by Magnum Foundation and the Economic Hardship and Reporting Project for The Nation.

Sex work is one of the world’s oldest professions and among the most stigmatized. Yet in countries with declining economies, like Puerto Rico and other Caribbean islands, more women, queer, and non-binary folk opt for making sex work the primary means of earning their livelihood. Despite Caribean popular culture is considered hypersexual; misogyny, homophobia, and criminalization continue to play a role in the marginalization of sex workers.

The project is a photographic documentation of queer sex work in the Puerto Rico, following economic decline in the aftermath of natural disasters and the current Covid-19 pandemic. In the wake of hurricanes, earthquakes, and unprecedented health emergencies, poor economic infrastructures amplify poverty. The project explores how sex workers in the island cope with economic hardship and create networks to survive and support each other.

The criminalization of sex work in Puerto Rico means that they are not offered labor protections, access to Covid-19 economic assistance, and are more at risk of being detained and becoming victims of police violence. The role of mutual aid becomes indispensable to survival for sex workers that have been a long-time in the industry to those who have joined since the pandemic began.

Read more on The Nation and on Open Society Foundations.

Gabriella N. Báez

Gabriella is a documentary photographer based between San Juan, Puerto Rico.
Website via Visura

Gabriella N. Báez is integrated to:
Visura site builder, a tool to grow your photography business
Visura's network for visual storytellers and journalists
A photography & film archive by Visura
Photography grants, open calls, and contests
A newsfeed for visual storytellers